A highly versatile synthesis of amine-boranes via carbonyl reduction by sodium borohydride is described. Unlike the prior bicarbonate-mediated protocol, which proceeds via a salt metathesis reaction, the carbon dioxide-mediated synthesis proceeds via reduction to a monoformatoborohydride intermediate. This has been verified by spectroscopic analysis, and by using aldehydes and ketones as the carbonyl source for the activation of sodium borohydride. This process has been used to produce borane complexes with 1°-, 2°-, and 3°-amines, including those with borane reactive functionalities, heteroarylamines, and a series of phosphines.


In this paper, we scrutinize in the transforming party-state system of China the subtle dynamics of enterprise adaptation to state interventions, which react to hardening external and internal constraints. We use a comparative systemic framework that interprets adaptation in the context of system dynamics and transformation (Csanadi, 2006). We analyze a firm-level database of the Chinese industry from 1998 to 2013 with more than 3.8 million entities. Enterprise sensitivity and adaptation is measured by entries and exits. Taking a systemic approach, we distinguish enterprises that belong to either the party-state network or to the market as two economic sub-spheres defined by our analytical framework. Using the dynamics of entries and exits of industrial enterprises in each of these two spheres, we measure their expansion and contraction as well as that of the speed of both. Different speed allows for the quantification of the dynamics of economic transformation. Our results reveal that increasing frequency of entries and exits, both within and between the two spheres, are interconnected with state interventions reacting to booming and cooling periods of system-specific overinvestment and hardening and softening external constraints (Csanadi, 2015; Csanadi and Gyuris, forthcoming). Similarly, we reveal a strong connection between enterprise entries and exits and the occasional changes in the acceleration and slowdown of transformation dynamics through alternating periods of retreat and expansion of the network. We confirm the retreat of the network between 1998 and 2009 in terms of number of enterprises, employment, and sales revenues. However, we find that state interventions reacting to the 2008-2009 global crisis as well as Xi Jinping's anticorruption campaign in 2012-2013 halted the retreat of the network in terms of various statistical indicators. Interventions also changed the moderate annual decline of state-owned capital share among enterprises belonging to the network (a clear trend until 2008), for they led to a "hidden expansion" of the state ownership through a relatively fast increase of its capital share from the early 2010s. Thus, transformation is not continuous, as halts and slowdowns during this process occur in major periods of state intervention. Neither is the advancement of transformation uniform. Regarding the number, employment, and sales revenue of enterprises, the retreat of the network and the expansion of the market sphere have substantially been more advanced than in case of the allocation of resources, which is selective and biased towards state-owned and large enterprises (Csanadi, 1997; Csanadi and Liu, 2012). These along with the resulting politically rational economic behavior of enterprises are essential characteristics of the party-state system.


Drought plans as the main measure to mitigate negative impacts of this natural disaster depend on indicators and triggers that characterize drought conditions and indicate time and type of the predefined responses. There are important issues in developing the relevant indicators and triggers; such as combining approach, temporal and spatial inconsistency and statistical incomparability of these indicators and triggers. Also these indicators should be selected with respect to the objectives of the plans. The main goal of this paper is to address such issues and also introduce the advantages and disadvantages of the referred indicators. Finally, the significant role of expert assessment to finalize the selected approach is highlighted and discussed.


This paper proposes a distance education system based on CBM using a personal computer which is real time interactive system with the addition of an external device. This system works with educational systems that are located at multiple campuses for delivering lectures with the aid of a surveillance system. This distance education system consists of multiple functions such as white-board, multiple opposition monitoring, audio support, tool box which is based on the user-preference, and an additional environmental technique. This system has provides session management, access control functions, network control and media control. This system also provides classrooms monitoring especially, for the purpose of watching each classroom. The surveillance system transfers the status of each classroom to the host site by decreasing the load of sending video data. It also has the function of diminishing the additional cost of communication when watching and the empty classroom for monitoring at night. Using a guarding system means protects the real estate and can prevent possible loss of lives resulting from an accident, without additional costs. The system is one of the open university systems which is now a hot issue involving the use of multimedia on the network for the end-users. It is implemented on the cyberspace to provide the transmission of information between the host site and remote site.


Abstract In 1215 Magna Carta determined freedom from executive oppression, or liberty, as the essential principle of the English Constitution and parliament as the bulwark against executive attempts to diminish the liberty of individuals. This constitutional precedence of liberty was confirmed after the Revolution in 1688 by the constitutional settlement which strengthened the financial accountability of the executive to parliament. Regular accounting for military expenditures especially became a critical component of the new accountability measures. Despite the overwhelming significance of liberty for the English Constitution and the contributions of accounting to preserving liberty, public sector accounting continues to attract few accounting historians. As a consequence, the vast historical resources contained in British Parliamentary Papers and the records of parliamentary debates continue to go largely unnoticed by all but a few accounting historians.


Solving geometrical problems on a set of 3D balls is a challenging task in computational geometry. They can be solved effectively when the Voronoi diagram for the set is available. The diagram is usually constructed by the edge-tracing or similar algorithms based on finding Voronoi vertices along edges. However, its expected quadratic time complexity makes it impractical. This can be improved significantly by our new approach. Whenever a vertex needs to be found, Delaunay triangulation of ball centers is searched through to find one specific ball. The search is kept inside a spatial filter, which can be reduced in size during the search. The improvement is demonstrated on protein data (a set of balls represents atoms in a molecule), because this is our intended application.


Throughout history, most individuals have lived their lives, and then faded into oblivion with little to remember them by. Relatively few receive credit for significantly affecting the course of human history and obtain appropriate remembrance in accounts of the past. For those whose memories endure, due to the unrepeatable nature of past events, history remains vulnerable to the corrupting influence of myths and legends that distort historical realities. Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863) serves as a prime example of an historical figure, who, though deserving of his place in history, has been subsequently distorted by biographers and memory. The following discussion largely passes over the general's already well-analyzed military career, and explores other factors that contributed to his incredible rise in fame to the exalted position of southern hero. Topics include Jackson's well-documented eccentricities, the manner of his death, the social climate of the post-war South, and his subsequent treatment by early biographers. All will contribute to the answer of the question, "what made Jackson into a legend?"


High-quality, direct-bandgap solar cells emit significant luminescence at their band edge when forced to operate in forward bias, thereby creating a possible source of photocurrent in lower bandgap junctions of a multijunction cell. We study the effects of luminescent coupling on the measurement of the subcell photocurrents for a series-connected III-V multijunction solar cell. We describe a technique that uses a set of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a Xenon-lamp white-light source to accurately determine the subcell photocurrents under a reference spectrum, taking the luminescent coupling current into account. The technique quantifies the luminescent coupling efficiencies and compensates for any spectral overlap between the LEDs and the other junctions. Since quantum efficiency curves are used in the adjustment of the simulator spectrum, we also show how to correct those curves to remove the effects of luminescent coupling.


In recent years education has become increasingly perceived as an area of risk. A number of highly publicized incidents have heightened awareness of the potential dangers to be found in teaching institutions. Although there is now a substantial conceptual literature on risk and the meaning of the risk society, such ideas have not to date been rigorously applied to the educational sector.

The authors of this innovative volume address this gap, discussing the relevance of risk discourses to educational processes. They recognize that risk discourses themselves (both academic and political) do not necessarily relate to actual dangers within education and they examine the differences between the risk narratives of expert and layperson, teacher and student, practitioner and academic. This book will greatly interest both sociologists and educationalists interested in the interaction between education and contemporary trends in society.


Pro-apoptotic molecules are generated during sepsis which may be responsible for alteration of organ function in sepsis. Removal of systemic apoptotic activity may affect recovery from sepsis. Current high flux membranes might not be sufficiently permeable to eliminate pro-apoptotic factors. We evaluated the elimination of pro-apoptotic factors induced by LPS in human whole blood by a super-permeable cellulose triacetate membrane (SUREFLUX FH 150, Nipro, Osaka, Japan) in comparison to a standard high flux cellulose triacetate membrane (UT 700, Nipro, Osaka, Japan) and a polyethersulfone plasmafilter (Bellco, Mirandola Italy) in an in vitro blood circulation. We spiked human whole blood with lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli (Serotype 026–86, 10 mg/ml), incubated it for 3 hours to allow cytokine generation and recirculated it at 300 ml/min for 3 hours. The UF line was first returned to the blood module at 10 min. After this, the UF was drained from 10 to 60 min at a rate of 1000 ml/h. Zero balance was obtained by re-infusion of bicarbonate buffered hemofiltration fluid. Apoptosis was assessed on U937 monocytes (incubated with plasma or ultrafiltrate) by fluorescence microscopy dyes (Hoechst 33342, propidium iodide) and annexin V flow cytometry. Caspase-3 and Caspase-8 activity was assessed on the recirculated blood monocytes by spectrophotometric methods. IL-2, IL-10 and TNFα were determined by commercially available ELISAs. Sieving coefficients and clearances were determined for the different cytokines. Caspase-3 and Caspase-8 were activated by LPS and remained either stable or increased during in vitro circulation. Apoptosis activity of U937 cells, when incubated with the ultrafiltrate, increased in parallel with arterial plasma values (for Uf: UT700=23.1%; Sureflux FH150=42.5%). However, by 60 min the apoptotic activity recorded with the ultrafiltrate was reduced to the levels of arterial plasma (for Uf: UT700=19.8%; Sureflux FH150=11.2%). Sieving coefficients in the super-permeable membrane were significantly higher for all measured cytokines in comparison to the standard high flux membrane (e.g. TNFα 0.72 vs 0.03 p<0.001) and close to the values observed for the plasmafiltration membrane. Nevertheless protein losses measured by albumin leakage were much lower with the Sureflux filter in comparison to the plasmafilter. In conclusion, pro-apoptotic factors can be eliminated by dialytic membranes with the removal rate maximized by using super high flux dialysers which may represent a compromise between hemofiltration and plasmafiltration membranes.


This study makes an important contribution to an expanding body of international comparative studies by exploring factors predicting differences in science and mathematics achievement by students in Turkey and the Republic of Korea on the 2011 TIMSS assessment. While these countries are similar with regards to population size, cultural beliefs about education, and public expenditure on education, students in each country have different levels of achievement in science and mathematics. The current research investigated how aptitude, instruction, and environment related factors predict Turkish and Korean students' achievement in science and mathematics. In both countries, some factors, such as student aptitude (e.g., science self-efficacy) and environmental (e.g., parental educational level) factors significantly predicted students' science and mathematics achievement. However, we found some differences between the two countries regarding certain classroom environmental variables, such as bullying and student sense of belonging at school. We discuss educational implications for these findings.


Analysis of buried pipe (BP) systems usually consider their effect on the gross margins of irrigators, overlooking the financial implications for the intermediary organisation supplying the water - the KSS or farmers' cooperative, in the case of the Deep Tubewell II Project. Where the KSS is a genuine co-operative and the land in the incremental command area belongs to its members, gross margin analysis may capture the key variables in the decision to invest in a buried pipe system. Where narrower factional interest, dominate, the financial effects on operating cost, and the income from water charges are a better guide to the balance of incentive. A model of the financial effects of BP schemes on KSS finances has been developed, using typical operating costs and water charges and conveyance efficiencies. (The capital cost of the well is treated as a sunk cost and does not enter the calculations). Improvements in irrigation efficiency on the existing command area (CA) save pumping costs, but cannot alone justify a BP investment. The critical variables were the capital cost (chiefly determined by the length of buried pipe) and the incremental command area. Examples of this analysis will be given for a range of BP schemes, as will graphs of the relationship between incremental CA, rates of water charge and the financial viability of the scheme. Financial viability is defined here as the ability to meet full loan repayments in the first year. (This is rather a restrictive assumption due to the "front-loading" of instalments). Where the length of pipe is short relative to potential incremental CA, the returns from irrigation would be more than adequate to meet repayments if the full potential CA is irrigated. Experience suggests that this potential is not always attained; more investigation is required to find out why this is.


"The American taxpayer"--angered by government waste and satisfied only with spending cuts--has preoccupied elected officials and political commentators since the Reagan Revolution. But resistance to progressive taxation has older, deeper roots. American Tax Resisters" presents the full history of the American anti-tax movement that has defended the pursuit of limited taxes on wealth and battled efforts to secure social justice through income redistribution for the past 150 years.From the Tea Party to the Koch brothers, the major players in today's anti-tax crusade emerge in Romain Huret's account as the heirs of a formidable--and far from ephemeral--political movement. Diverse coalitions of Americans have rallied around the flag of tax opposition since the Civil War, their grievances fueled by a determination to defend private life against government intrusion and a steadfast belief in the economic benefits and just rewards of untaxed income. Local tax resisters were actively mobilized by business and corporate interests throughout the early twentieth century, undeterred by such setbacks as the Sixteenth Amendment establishing a federal income tax. Zealously petitioning Congress and chipping at the edges of progressive tax policies, they bequeathed hard-won experience to younger generations of conservatives in their pursuit of laissez-faire capitalism.Capturing the decisive moments in U.S. history when tax resisters convinced a majority of Americans to join their crusade, Romain Huret explains how a once marginal ideology became mainstream, elevating economic success and individual entrepreneurialism over social sacrifice and solidarity.


In linear algebra, the trace of a square matrix is defined as the sum of elements on the main diagonal. The trace of a matrix is the sum of its eigenvalues (counted with multiplicities), and it is invariant under the change of basis. This characterization can be used to define the trace of a tensor in general. Trace inequalities are mathematical relations between different multivariate trace functionals involving linear operators. These relations are straightforward equalities if the involved linear operators commute, however, they can be difficult to prove when the non-commuting linear operators are involved. Given two Hermitian tensors H1 and H2 that do not commute. Does there exist a method to transform one of the two tensors such that they commute without completely destroying the structure of the original tensor? The spectral pinching method is a tool to resolve this problem. In this work, we will apply such spectral pinching method to prove several trace inequalities that extend the Araki–Lieb–Thirring (ALT) inequality, Golden–Thompson(GT) inequality and logarithmic trace inequality to arbitrary many tensors. Our approaches rely on complex interpolation theory as well as asymptotic spectral pinching, providing a transparent mechanism to treat generic tensor multivariate trace inequalities. As an example application of our tensor extension of the Golden–Thompson inequality, we give the tail bound for the independent sum of tensors. Such bound will play a fundamental role in high-dimensional probability and statistical data analysis.


The temperature of a plant in a climatised room depends on the irradiation level. The use of a thermocamera is valuable for the characterisation of the complicated temperature distributions as can be found, for example, on a leaf in an assimilation chamber. Point measurements of temperature are useful only when the temperature distribution over an object is sufficiently known. The measurement of the radiation temperature of an object behind an infra-red transmitting filter is possible. The temperature distribution over a leaf depends on the gradients in irradiation and air humidity to which it is exposed, on local difference in stomatal opening and on air velocity.


Power grid analysis is a challenging problem for modern integrated circuits. For 3-D systems fabricated using stacked tiers with TSVs, traditional power grid analysis methods for planar (2-D) circuits do not demonstrate the same performance. An efficient IR drop analysis method for 3-D large-scale circuits, called 3-D voltage propagation method, is proposed in this paper. This method is compared with another widely used power grid analysis method, with preconditioned conjugated gradients. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is more efficient for the IR drop analysis of large size 3-D power grids. Speedups between 10× to 20× over the preconditioned conjugated gradients method are shown.


This study aimed to examine the accuracy of death certificates for coding coronary heart disease [CHD] as the underlying cause of death in Bahrain. Of the 1714 deaths occurring in Bahrain in 1993, 371 were classified as resulting from CHD. In this study the hospital diagnosis of 109 deaths [52 as CHD and 57 as other causes]were reviewed and re-diagnosed using hospital records. The coding of 459 death certificates [151 as CHD and 308 as other causes]by the Directorate of Public Health was similarly reviewed. The sensitivity and specificity of the hospital diagnosis were 76% and 72% respectively and those of the Directorate of Public Health were 85% and 89% respectively. National mortality statistics in Bahrain, which are based on death certificate data, may overestimate the frequency of CHD. Therefore, it is important that measures are taken to improve the accuracy of certification


We have previously characterized phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) synthase and PtdIns/myo-inositol-exchange enzyme activities in ghost membranes prepared by hypotonic lysis of turkey erythrocytes [McPhee, Lowe, Vaziri and Downes (1991) Biochem. J. 275, 187-192]. Here we show that PtdIns synthase activity is relatively enriched in plasma-membrane preparations of turkey erythrocytes and that inositol phospholipids labelled by both PtdIns synthase and PtdIns myo-inositol exchange enzymes are susceptible to hydrolysis by the receptor- and G-protein-regulated phospholipase C (PLC), which is present also in ghost preparations. Specific-radioactivity measurements of [3H]PtdIns from ghosts labelled to equilibrium under conditions favouring [3H]inositol incorporation by PtdIns synthase activity indicate that PtdIns synthase can directly access approx. 14% of the total erythrocyte ghost PtdIns. Approx. 16% of the [3H]PtdIns labelled by the PtdIns synthase reaction can be phosphorylated to polyphosphoinositides, which are then hydrolysed by the receptor- and G-protein-stimulated PLC. Since the mass of PtdIns declines to a similar extent as [3H]PtdIns during stimulation in the presence of guanine nucleotides and ATP, it is evident that both the labelled and unlabelled phosphoinositides are susceptible to hydrolysis by the relevant PLC. Phosphoinositides present in nuclei-free plasma membranes were also labelled by [3H]inositol under conditions favouring PtdIns synthase and PtdIns/myo-inositol-exchange enzyme activities respectively. These membranes lack PLC activity [Vaziri and Downes (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 22973-22981], but the labelled lipids were sensitive to purinergic-receptor-stimulated hydrolysis in reconstitution assays using partially purified turkey erythrocyte PLC. The results strongly suggest that at least a portion of the PtdIns synthase in turkey erythrocytes is located in the plasma membrane and has direct access to an agonist-sensitive pool of inositol phospholipids.


Defective healing of wounds in angioplastic surgery has always been attended by very serious consequences. In the days of the use of homografts, either wound infection or faulty healing of an anastomotic line almost invariably led to the loss of the graft, and indeed at times to the loss of limb or life. With the use of plastic prostheses, unsatisfactory wound healing has taken on a somewhat different aspect, but it still remains an ominous event. Whether the failure to heal kindly and completely affects the entire operative area or is limited to the anastomotic line, the complications that arise from it are potentially grave. In spite of their importance, however, these complications till now have only sporadically been mentioned in the literature. 1-3 It will, therefore, be of some interest to describe the types, incidence, causes, and treatment of defective healing in a series of reconstructive arterial operations using


The impulse radio-ultra wide band (IR-UWB) signalling format has been an attractive mode for wireless communication in wireless sensor node system. The super-regenerative principle can be used for impulse reception for its inherent advantages. The oscillator is the main building block in a super-regenerative based impulse reception system. It is necessary for the oscillator to be tuned to the carrier frequency of the received pulse for achieving maximum sensitivity. In this paper, a multi-band tuning circuitry based on the frequency synthesizer architecture is shown. The oscillator can be tuned to either 3.494 GHz or 3.993 GHz. The circuit is implemented in a CMOS 0.18 µm technology and consumes 8 mA current at 1.5 V supply voltage.


Relationships between seaweed morphology and the metabolism of ammonium and carbon were examined for 9 seaweeds from northeastern New Zealand. Maximum rates of surge ammonium uptake and ammonium assimilation, in addition to the maximum ammonium storage pool, were strongly positively correlated with seaweed surface area:volume (SA:V) ratio when expressed per g dry weight, but were largely independent of SA:V ratio when expressed per cm 2 surface area. This suggests that ammomum metabolism may be confined largely to the outermost cell layers. Similar scaling properties were found for rates of photosynthesis and, to d lesser extent, respiration. Rates of photosynthesis were similar to those derived from the literature for northern hemisphere seaweeds, while respiration rates were slightly lower among New Zealand seaweeds. These comparatively minor geographic differences suggest that previously documented differences in rates of ammonium uptake between the 2 regions are not related to carbon metabolism. Maximum rates of ammonium assimilation were determined by measuring the internally controlled rate of ammonium uptake, which closely matched the assimilation rate in the green seaweed Ulva sp., the red seaweed Osmundaria colensoi, and the brown seaweed Zonaria turneriana.


Micro-machining of hard dies and molds for optical parts or precision instruments is required to extend die and mold life. This paper investigates the effect of cutting fluid on diamond tool life under micro V-groove turning of cobalt-free tungsten carbide. Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate fluid (ZnDTP) displayed excellent diamond tool wear resistance in previous experiments. The performance of this cutting fluid is compared to newly developed vegetable oil based cutting fluid with dispersed MoS2 nanotubes. This paper investigates nanopolycrystalline diamond (NPD) tool life with a rake angle of 0° and-30° under continuous micro V-groove turning (i.e. face turning), of cobalt-free tungsten carbide using the developed cutting fluids. Superior diamond tool edge wear resistance is observed when using the dispersed MoS2 nanotubes in vegetable oil and using a NPD tool with a-30° rake angle.


ABSTRACT The health and wellbeing of residents in South Africa's towns and cities are currently threatened by the burden of disease, high incidences of crime/violence, and increasing economic, social, and environmental inequality. The impact of past and present spatial exclusion has exacerbated high levels of poverty and ill health, and the rapid rise in urbanization has put further pressure on already strained urban systems. While significant progress has been made, poor levels of service delivery, neglected infrastructure, and a lack of social amenities continue to pose a challenge. A further concern has been the prioritization in policy and literature on the 'hard' traditional elements of health over 'softer' dimensions (wellbeing aspects). The field of medical geography in South Africa has also remained relatively peripheral, with most geographical and human settlement research on health being driven by public-health scholars. This special issue brings together the voices of researchers working on health and wellbeing in South Africa's urban spaces to address these and other concerns. Several key findings have emerged including the need for governance models that focus on overall wellbeing, the importance of interdisciplinary approaches, the role that wider socio-economic context and history play, and the importance of access to open space.


Evidence is summarized which indicates that the DNA loop anchoring proteins in chromosomes are effectively heterodimers that stack and are fastened into a bilaterally symmetrical array along the chromonemal axis. The evidence consists primarily of the observations made twenty five to thirty years ago on the pattern of sister chromatid exchanges and the way the DNA chains are sorted in the formation of diplochromosomes in cells that have undergone endoreduplication. The evidence indicates that each chain of DNA in the single duplex, which is assumed to run the length of a chromosome, is anchored to a bilaterally symmetrical axis of heterodimers that sort the two original chains among the four derived chromatids of each diplochromosome in a very precise way. These observations are considered in the context of investigations on the nature of scaffold proteins and the loop anchorage sequences, as well as the advances being made on the nature of DNA binding proteins and the roles of topoisomerase II.


Context: Walking, both forward and backward, is found to be effective for reducing pain in subjects with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee and improving physical function and quality of life (QOL). Aims: This study aims to determine and compare the effects of forward walking (FW) and backward walking (BW) on pain, physical function, and QOL in subjects with OA knee. Settings and Design: Quasi-experimental study set up at general hospital, Ahmedabad, India. Subjects and Methods: Thirty subjects >40 years diagnosed as having bilateral OA knee according to American College of Rheumatology criteria having indoor and outdoor walking ability without aids were included in this study. Group A and B subjects received FW and BW respectively for 10 min in addition to conventional treatment thrice daily for 2 weeks. Group C received conventional treatment in the form of hot water fomentation and exercises. Exercises comprised of static quadriceps, short arc terminal extension of the knee, ankle toe movements, straight leg raises, knee flexion and extension, proprioceptive exercises in the form of lunges, weight shifts, partial squats and balance training on the balance board and stretching of hamstrings, tendo-Achilles and rectus femoris muscles. Statistical Analysis Used: SPSS 16.0 (IBM Corporation). Parametric tests were used. The level of significance was 5%. Results: The results showed improvement in all the outcome measures within all the three groups. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups except Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC). Visual analog scale (VAS) at rest on the right side in all three groups and on the left side in Group A as well as in scores of VAS at activity on both the sides (P < 0.05) and no improvement in VAS at rest on the left side in Groups B and C (P > 0.05). Improvement in WOMAC scores within all the 3 groups (P < 0.05) and SF-36 (P < 0.05). No statistically significant difference between the groups for VAS at rest (left P = 0.919, right P = 0.823) or activity (left P = 0.706, right P = 0.052) on both the sides and SF-36 scores (P > 0.05). Statistically significant difference between the groups for WOMAC (P = 0.043), Group A was better than Group C (P = 0.043). Conclusions: FW and BW along with conventional therapy are equally effective and not better than conventional treatment alone in reducing pain and improving physical function and QOL.


Adhesion to type 1 collagen can elicit different cellular responses dependent upon whether the collagen is in a fibrillar form (gel) or monomeric form (film). Hepatocytes adherent to collagen film spread extensively, express cyclin D1, and increase DNA synthesis in response to epidermal growth factor, whereas hepatocytes adherent to collagen gel have increased differentiated function, but lower DNA synthesis. The signaling mechanisms by which different forms of type I collagen modulate cell cycle progression are unknown. When ERK MAP kinase activation was analyzed in hepatocytes attached to collagen film, two peaks of ERK activity were demonstrated. Only the second peak, which correlated with an increase of cyclin D1, was required for G1-S progression. Notably, this second peak of ERK activity was absent in cells adherent to collagen gel, but not required in the presence of exogenous cyclin D1. Expression of activated mutants of the Ras/Raf/MEK signaling pathway in cells adherent to collagen gel restored ERK phosphorylation and DNA synthesis, but differentially affected cell shape. Although Ras, Raf, and MEK all increased expression of cyclin D1 on collagen film, only Ras and Raf significantly up-regulated cyclin D1 levels on collagen gel. These results demonstrate that adhesion to polymerized collagen induces growth arrest by inhibiting the Ras/ERK-signaling pathway to cyclin D1 required in late G1.


The Additive Manufacturing (AM) of precious metal jewelry is slowly gaining traction in the global jewelry industry with many companies now starting to adopt or consider the technology. There are still two key areas that need to be improved in order to speed up the adoption of the technology: 1) design for AM and 2) polishing and finishing of AM jewelry. This paper explores the various polishing and finishing techniques available for precious metal AM jewelry. Additive manufacturing of jewelry can prove to be particularly effective commercially when used to produce geometrically complex jewelry designs or personalized, individualized and customized jewelry items. These designs, by their very complex nature, can present many unique and product-specific challenges when being finished and polished. There are a number of mechanical, sometimes called mass finishing, polishing technologies now available that the jewelry manufacturer needs to consider using in combination with their AM technology while also being mindful that, like all high-end jewelry, traditional hand polishing methods will still be required to provide the desired final highluster polish to the jewelry item. The following information largely details the work carried out by members of the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) Precious Consortium1 investigating various mass finishing techniques for AM jewelry as well as introducing new and novel finishing techniques and methodologies for AM jewelry developed since the conclusion of the project


Abstract. Current land surface models (LSMs) typically represent soils in a very simplistic way, assuming soil organic carbon (SOC) as a bulk, and thus impeding a correct representation of deep soil carbon dynamics. Moreover, LSMs generally neglect the production and export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from soils to rivers, leading to overestimations of the potential carbon sequestration on land. This common oversimplified processing of SOC in LSMs is partly responsible for the large uncertainty in the predictions of the soil carbon response to climate change. In this study, we present a new soil carbon module called ORCHIDEE-SOM, embedded within the land surface model ORCHIDEE, which is able to reproduce the DOC and SOC dynamics in a vertically discretized soil to 2 m. The model includes processes of biological production and consumption of SOC and DOC, DOC adsorption on and desorption from soil minerals, diffusion of SOC and DOC, and DOC transport with water through and out of the soils to rivers. We evaluated ORCHIDEE-SOM against observations of DOC concentrations and SOC stocks from four European sites with different vegetation covers: a coniferous forest, a deciduous forest, a grassland, and a cropland. The model was able to reproduce the SOC stocks along their vertical profiles at the four sites and the DOC concentrations within the range of measurements, with the exception of the DOC concentrations in the upper soil horizon at the coniferous forest. However, the model was not able to fully capture the temporal dynamics of DOC concentrations. Further model improvements should focus on a plant- and depth-dependent parameterization of the new input model parameters, such as the turnover times of DOC and the microbial carbon use efficiency. We suggest that this new soil module, when parameterized for global simulations, will improve the representation of the global carbon cycle in LSMs, thus helping to constrain the predictions of the future SOC response to global warming.


Significant interest has been expressed by the spinal surgeon community for the use of calcium phosphate cement (CPC) in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures (VCFs), but the water-induced collapsibility and poor mechanical properties limit its clinical use. Here we fabricated novel electrospun nanofibrous P(DLLA-CL) balloons (ENPBs) using the nanotechnique of electrospinning. The ENPBs could separate the cements from the surrounding environment, and therefore can prevent the water-induced collapsibility of CPC and eliminate cement leakage. The ENPBs filling with CPC had enough load-bearing ability to restore the height of the fractured vertebral body and had no obvious effects on the initial strength and stiffness of natural bones. Further, the ENPBs had good biodegradability and cell proliferation ability. Calcium can be released from ENPBs filling with CPC. All these results strongly demonstrate ENPBs can be potentially used as CPC filling containers that keep the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages of CPC. From the Clinical Editor: Calcium phosphate cement (CPC) is a promising modality in vertebral compression fracture treatment, but its water-induced collapsibility limits clinical applications. This team of investigators fabricated novel nanofibrous balloons using electrospinning, which enabled the separation of CPC from its surrounding environment, and therefore prevented water-induced collapsibility of CPC and eliminated cement leakage while maintaining all the advantages of CPC treatment.


infection in a number of children selected for operation. As Mr. Walker suggests in his final comments, this resolves in the vast majority of cases after removal of the diseased tonsils and adenoids. He considers that the unsatisfactory results following tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are due to sinusitis: we consider that they are more likely to be due to an incorrect selection of children for operation.-We are, etc., M. R. SHERIDAN.


Acute hyperleukocytic leukemias (AHL) are associated with a very high early mortality rate mostly due to respiratory failure or intracranial bleeding. The pathophysiological process leading to these complications is called leukostasis but the biological mechanisms underlying its development and progression remain unclear. Although traditionally related to "overcrowding" of leukemic blasts in the capillaries of the microcirculation, leukostasis is likely to result from direct endothelial cell damage. This damage is probably mediated by soluble cytokines released during the interaction between leukemic cells and vascular endothelium and by the subsequent migration of leukemic blasts in the perivascular space. Leukemic cell's ability to respond to chemotactic cytokines and their expression of specific adhesion molecules are probably more important in determining whether leukostasis will develop than the number of circulating blasts. This could explain why leukostasis does not develop in all patients with AHL. The identification of the adhesion molecules, cytokines and receptors mediating endothelial cell damage in AHL should become a priority if therapeutic improvements are desired. Leukapheresis is widely used but it is unclear whether it provides additional benefit to a simpler and less invasive intervention with allopurinol, hydroxyurea and intravenous fluids. Cranial irradiation is not generally recommended. Induction chemotherapy should be started without delay. It is hoped that specific pharmacological inhibitors of the interaction between leukemic cells and vascular endothelum will result in an improved outcome for this very high-risk population.


Scholars of the Iranian revolution have often explained the 1979 overthrow of the Pahlavi regime in terms of the rise of an Islamic movement that inspired Iranians to challenge the shah, confront the powerful army, and engage in martyrdom to bring down the monarchy. Leaders of the Islamic regime also consistently endorsed these views and claimed that the revolution was for Islam. This article analyzes the nature of the collective actions of major actors immediately before and during the revolution. Specifically, it examines the timing, demands, and claims of major collectivities and challengers that participated in the revolutionary process. It concludes that although segments of Iranian intellectuals and students fought for an Islamic government, the vast majority of the Iranian people never fought for a theocracy, established by Khomeini and his allies. The causes, processes, and outcome of the Iranian revolution were too complex to be explained by single, overarching, ideological explanations.


Problem statement: The problem of the research derives from a lack of study and understanding about the production of condiment Isan food and ingredients being introduced into commercial, even though Isan food is popular among consumers widespread both inside and outside the country. The government introduced a policy to expand trade to create an export value of Isan products. The purpose of the research is to study the local wisdom in the field of the application of the ingredients used in Isan food. In addition, the purpose is to study about the problems of applying local wisdom to produce Isan food for consumption into commercial. Approach: The fields of study are Kalasin, Khon kaen, Maha Sarakham and Roi-Et. These are the places of Isan food local culture and original application of Isan food that have been producing to the present and also popular among the consumers widespread. There are 5 types of food that are chosen to be the proposition; Kaeng Wai (Curry Wai), Kai Yang (Roasting chicken), Tom Kai Ban (Boiled chicken), Mok Lab Pla Thong (Grilled Lab Pla Thong) and Om Pla (Fish soup) from 9 restaurants. Using Qualitative Research for data gathering from the concerning document, the data will be collected from fieldwork, survey, observation, interviews and focus group discussion from a group of totally 71 informants, presenting the result by using analytical descriptive. Results: The local wisdom of application of Isan food ingredients is a herb that is easy to find in the local area. It is used for the deodorizing of meat and as a garnish to give taste and flavor to the consumer. Isan food is highlighted as spicy and salty. A Spicy taste is from hot chili and dried chili. A Salty taste can be regarded as an important deliciousness that is an identity of Isan food from pickled fish and salt. A Sour test derives from tamarinds. Ya Nang (Tiliacora triandra) is used in order to reduce uric acid of Wai (Calamus caesius Blume). Adding ginger, Kha (Languas galangal) and Lemon Grass to the main ingredients in order to be spicy and increase fragrance. Instant ingredients are used to highlight the taste and fragrance to enhance the flavor. Moreover, all herbs and vegetables that are used are good for our health. Following the local wisdom for the production of condiment Isan food ingredient is the production of day by day by estimating the quantity of using per day and using in a day in order to be fresh. The product is prepared by washing with water and cutting unnecessary parts away, using an easy kitchen application for production. The problem of using the application of local wisdom for production of condiment Isan food ingredient is the lack of available product and it is quite expensive in some seasons. Problems are encountered with low quality products, rear of labor and long period of times to produce and keep the product. Applying the application of local wisdom for production of condiment Isan food ingredient into commercial, fresh product is chosen and washed with water and unnecessary parts are cut away by using simple kitchen application in order to prepare the product. A drying technique is used by using a heated air dryer, drum dryer and freeze dryer. The research attempts to find out the result of the test by using the senses of evaluation, smell, color and taste of the food. The packaging and ticketing of the product is also important to show the ingredients, condiment, proportion and guidance of how to store the product. Conclusion/Recommendation: Applying the application of local wisdom for production of condiment Isan food ingredient into commercial is the way of using basic local wisdom in order to apply and develop the product by integrating between original production and modern technology. Both two ways can control the temperature and moisture in order to gain the most resemble of the original product. In addition, it is easy to keep in some difficult seasons, saves time and natural resources; it is easy to cook and has the prospect of being developed into industry to import and export. It is the way to bring income into the country, including enabling Isan food and culture to be recognized worldwide.


Purpose: Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region located in the northeastern part of the Province of Quebec, Canada, and is characterized by a founder effect. In this region, it has been documented that the incidence of cystic fibrosis reached 1/902 live births between 1975 and 1988, three times higher than the average incidence of 1/2500 live births reported in other Caucasian populations. This corresponds to a carrier rate of 1/15.Methods: Using genotyping data from the Canadian Consortium for Cystic Fibrosis Genetic Studies, this article describes the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator profile of the cystic fibrosis population living in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region and compares it with cystic fibrosis populations living in three other regions of the Province of Quebec.Results: Significant differences in allelic frequencies of common mutations (as ΔF508, 621 + 1G>T and A455E), and in percentage of covered allele with three or six mutations, were found in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean compared to other regions. Based on this result, two mutation panels exceeding 90% sensitivity threshold are now proposed for cystic fibrosis carrier screening in this region.Conclusion: The implementation of the proposed carrier screening program could diminish the incidence of this disease in this region and allow future parents to make informed decisions about family planning.


In mobile Ad-hoc networks, during the transmission of data, there is a chance of route failure, so that the route rediscovery should be done. Reactive routing protocol determines a route to a specific destination when a particular packet is going to send. Here we propose a reverse reactive routing protocol, based on new route discovery approach, which is used to find an optimal route to the destination with lower overhead, than the flooding based reverse route discovery. The reverse route discovery approach is obtained through three steps; those are Reverse route Computation in Route Request (RREQ), Reverse route Computation in Route Reply (RREP) and Route Error (RERR). In this approach, each source and destination pair establishes various paths in the route discovery and they are stored in their route collections. As the nodes often have a finite capacity path reserve, it may not be possible to store all paths in routing table. In case of route failure in the primary route, a recovery node which is an overhearing neighbor (next hops) discovers it and establishes a link recovery pathway with maximum bandwidth from its route supply. By simulation results, we show that the proposed approach improves network performance better than the other reactive routing protocol (AODV). The projected route recovery management technique can prevent the repeated collision and degradation in the network performance.


Abstract. We present spatial measurements of particle volatility and mixing state at a site near a North Carolina interstate highway (I-40) applying several heating (thermodenuder; TD) experimental approaches. Measurements were conducted in summer 2015 and winter 2016 in a roadside trailer (10 m from road edge) and during downwind transects at different distances from the highway under favorable wind conditions using a mobile platform. Results show that the relative abundance of semi-volatile species (SVOCs) in ultrafine particles decreases with downwind distance, which is consistent with the dilution and mixing of traffic-sourced particles with background air and evaporation of semi-volatile species during downwind transport. An evaporation kinetics model was used to derive particle volatility distributions by fitting TD data. While the TD-derived distribution apportions about 20–30 % of particle mass as semi-volatile (SVOCs; effective saturation concentration, C∗ ≥ 1µm−3) at 10 m from the road edge, approximately 10 % of particle mass is attributed to SVOCs at 220 m, showing that the particle-phase semi-volatile fraction decreases with downwind distance. The relative abundance of semi-volatile material in the particle phase increased during winter. Downwind spatial gradients of the less volatile particle fraction (that remaining after heating at 180 °C) were strongly correlated with black carbon (BC). BC size distribution and mixing state measured using a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) at the roadside trailer showed that a large fraction (70–80 %) of BC particles were externally mixed. Heating experiments with a volatility tandem differential mobility analyzer (V-TDMA) also showed that the nonvolatile fraction in roadside aerosols is mostly externally mixed. V-TDMA measurements at different distances downwind from the highway indicate that the mixing state of roadside aerosols does not change significantly (e.g., BC mostly remains externally mixed) within a few hundred meters from the highway. Our analysis indicates that a superposition of volatility distributions measured in laboratory vehicle tests and of background aerosol can be used to represent the observed partitioning of near-road particles. The results from this study show that exposures and impacts of BC and semi-volatile organics-containing particles in a roadside microenvironment may differ across seasons and under changing ambient conditions.


Pomset automata are an operational model of weak bi-Kleene algebra, which
describes programs that can fork an execution into parallel threads, upon
completion of which execution can join to resume as a single thread. We
characterize a fragment of pomset automata that admits a decision procedure for
language equivalence. Furthermore, we prove that this fragment corresponds
precisely to series-rational expressions, i.e., rational expressions with an
additional operator for bounded parallelism. As a consequence, we obtain a new
proof that equivalence of series-rational expressions is decidable.


Sleep-disordered breathing with recurrent apnea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Affected individuals have increased risk of systemic hypertension. Sleep apnea results in chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). Exposure of rodents to CIH is sufficient to induce hypertension by activation of the carotid body and sympathetic nervous system, leading to increased levels of circulating catecholamines. CIH induces increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and antioxidant treatment blocks CIH-induced hypertension. The transcriptional activator hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) plays an essential role in O2 homeostasis. HIF-1 activity is induced when mice or cultured cells are subjected to CIH, an effect that is blocked by antioxidants. The carotid bodies from mice that are heterozygous for a null (knockout) allele at the locus encoding HIF-1� appear histologically normal but do not respond to continuous hypoxia or CIH. In contrast to wild-type littermates, when heterozygous-null mice are subjected to CIH, they do not develop hypertension or increased levels of HIF-1, catecholamines, or ROS. The data suggest the existence of a feed-forward mechanism in which CIH-induced ROS activate HIF-1, which then promotes persistent oxidative stress, which may further amplify HIF-1 activation, with its consequent effects on gene expression. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 9, 1391–1396.


Purpose – Although economic theory generally does not support government intervention in international trade, casual observation shows that many developing countries adopt certain trade policies to promote their exports. The objective of this paper is to answer the question that whether developing countries can benefit from export promotion. Design/methodology/approach – This paper considers a developing country which has to import new technology from the world market to improve its productivity. If it has certain economic rigidities, the country is short of foreign exchange and domestic firms cannot import an adequate amount of new technology. Even if there is no rigidity, domestic firms may not have sufficient incentive to invest in new technology. Therefore, the government can step in to subsidize exports. Through an analytical model, this paper investigates in what conditions the measures of export promotion can stimulate production and employment, and improve efficiency and social welfare. Findings – This paper analyzes two effects of export promotion: raising the incentive of capital investment and reducing capital goods shortage caused by foreign exchange constraint. These effects might be the economic rationale for developing country governments to promote exports. It is found that export promotion can definitely raise employment and productivity, but whether these measures can stimulate the supply to the domestic market and improve domestic welfare depends on the sufficient and necessary condition given in the paper. Originality/value – Establishes an analytical model to investigate in what conditions the measures of export promotion such as export subsidies and domestic currency devaluation can stimulate production and employment, and can improve efficiency and social welfare.


Apolipoprotein B-100 (apoB) is the central protein component of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and is subject to endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD). Hepatic assembly of VLDL particles is monitored by the cellular quality control machinery, which determines whether a properly formed lipoprotein is secreted or the inadequately lipidated apoB protein is degraded. Changes in lipid supply, ER folding capacity or ERAD pathway function can alter VLDL output from HepG2 cells. Bag6 is a cytosolic protein that has a role in the bilayer integration of proteins and is also implicated in maintaining the solubility of proteasome substrates that contain exposed hydrophobic regions. Notably, Bag6 has been observed to interact with the ERAD components gp78 and p97, which are known to facilitate apoB degradation. The goal of this study was to evaluate the role of cytosolic Bag6 in apoB metabolism in HepG2 cells. When MG132 was used to inhibit proteasomal degradation of apoB, Bag6 was co-immunoprecipitated with apoB as determined by functional proteomics and immunoblot analysis. Conversely, if VLDL assembly was enhanced by treatment of the cells with the MEK/ERK inhibitor U0126, both the Bag6-apoB and p97-apoB associations were no longer detectable. Metabolic labelling studies indicated that siRNA knockdown of Bag6 did not alter the initial rate of apoB biosynthesis, but decreased the secretion of newly synthesized apoB. The decrease in apoB secretion with Bag6 knockdown could not be reversed by U0126. In addition, Bag6 knockdown decreased the effectiveness of MG132 as an inhibitor of cellular apoB degradation even though ubiquitination of apoB appeared to be unaffected. These observations suggest that Bag6 may be a component of the ERAD pathway that modulates VLDL assembly. Reduction of Bag6 partially decreases both secretion and MG132-inhibitable degradation of apoB, suggesting that another mechanism is also involved in apoB degradation. We hypothesize that the "holdase" function of Bag6 may temporarily stabilize exposed hydrophobic domains of apoB prior to its progression to assembly or degradation.


Cropland and fertilizers are two prominent and non-spared factors of agricultural sustainable production. This study mainly aimed to examine the response of crop production value to cropland used and chemical fertilizers supplied by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lags approach of cointegration over the period 1980 to 2016. The bound test and the error correction term showed that the amount of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) consumed, the optimal ratio N-P-K applied, the amount of hectares cultivated for temporary and permanent crops are strongly linked to the growth of crop production value. The results may be analyzed following three ways: in the long-term, both cropland used and fertilizers ratio supplied appear greatly to induce a positive impact; in the short-term, the previous farming activity on a cropland might provide a positive influence; even though fertilizers' ratio supplied may not induce a substantial effect in the short-term, however, fertilizers nutrient supplied solely may impact the production value. In addition, the number of machines and the labor force are shown to foster the growth of crop production value in the long-term and short-term respectively. For the sake of agricultural sustainability, the findings support a farming system including a complementarity between multi-planting with high nitrogen nutrient requirements, trees plantation (agroforestry) and mechanization.

 Key words: Fertilizer, cropland, crop production, sustainable agriculture, auto regressive distributed lags model.


This report explores how the community development system--relationships among providers of finance, expertise, and political influence needed to carry out community development functions--has begun to move into activities other than housing. It concludes that in moving to scale in other arenas, three functions are critical: a capable national or local intermediary with strong relationships throughout the system and a willingness to move beyond its current players; individual CDCs working collaboratively--or at least using shared approaches--across neighborhoods; and new players at the city-wide level joining to meet the needs of the new activity.


The hospital situation description shows that the hospital needs to understand an economics. Economics is a scientific discipline widely used by other disciplines. Economy is the art of making the most out of life, while, economics in general discusses how resources are allocated among various alternative uses to satisfy human desire. Economics is divided into two; microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics deals with the individual economic behavior, such as consumers, companies, organization, and shareholders. Macroeconomics discusses economic behavior in the "aggregate" manner.Human activities in a society are divided into 3 main (economic) activities: (1) production activities, (2) consumption activities, and (3) exchange activities. Economics gives a lot of attentions on the three main economic activity processes and the elements concerned with these activities (producers, consumers, traders, government, and so on). Actually, In the hospital sector, it is not common to name a patient a consumer and to name hospital a producers. It is assumed that the noble values of the medical profession might be eroded by these names.


Leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations constrain photosynthetic and metabolic processes, growth and the productivity of plants. Their stoichiometry and scaling relationships regulate the allocation of N and P from subcellular to organism, and even ecosystem levels, and are crucial to the modelling of plant growth and nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. Prior work has revealed a general biogeographic pattern of leaf N and P stoichiometric relationships and shown that leaf N scales roughly as two-thirds the power of P. However, determining whether and how leaf N and P stoichiometries, especially their scaling exponents, change with functional groups and environmental conditions requires further verification. In this study, we compiled a global data set and documented the global leaf N and P concentrations and the N:P ratios by functional group, climate zone and continent. The global overall mean leaf N and P concentrations were 18.9 mg g −1 and 1.2 mg g −1 , respectively, with significantly higher concentrations in herbaceous than woody plants (21.72 mg g −1 vs. 18.22 mg g −1 for N; and 1.64 mg g −1 vs. 1.10 mg g −1 for P). Both leaf N and P showed higher concentrations at high latitudes than low latitudes. Among six continents, Europe had the highest N and P concentrations (20.79 and 1.54 mg g −1 ) and Oceania had the smallest values (10.01 and 0.46 mg g −1 ). These numerical values may be used as a basis for the comparison of other individual studies. Further, we found that the scaling exponent varied significantly across different functional groups, latitudinal zones, ecoregions and sites. The exponents of herbaceous and woody plants were 0.659 and 0.705, respectively, with significant latitudinal patterns decreasing from tropical to temperate to boreal zones. At sites with a sample size ≥10, the values fluctuated from 0.366 to 1.928, with an average of 0.841. Several factors including the intrinsic attributes of different life forms, P-related growth rates and relative nutrient availability of soils likely account for the inconstant exponents of leaf N vs. P scaling relationships.


Boscalid is a modern agrochemical belonging to the so-called chemical class of succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor fungicides. With the aim of developing rapid analytical screening methods for this relevant compound, we herein report the synthesis of new boscalid mimics and the study of their suitability for the production of polyclonal antibodies. Aliphatic spacer arms equivalent in length and composition were tethered at two different aromatic rings of the target molecular structure. These haptens, besides being used for immunization, were employed in the development of heterologous competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (cELISAs) in order to improve assay detectability. Direct and indirect immunoassays were tailored and applied to the determination of samples with incurred boscalid residues. The assays were characterized in terms of sensitivity, specificity, trueness, and precision. Limit of quantification was established at 5 μg kg(-1), coefficients of variation were lower than 20%, and recoveries from spiked samples ranged from 90 to 137%. Finally, ELISA performance was evaluated by Deming regression analysis with tomato and cucumber samples, selecting ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry as the reference method. The results showed that the proposed cELISAs are useful for the routine determination of boscalid fungicides in foods with high-sample throughput and affordable cost.


Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the factors affecting provision of service quality in the public health sector in Kenya, focusing on employee capability, technology, communication and financial resources. The paper reviews existing literature and experiences on public health service provision and quality management. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports on empirical evidence drawn from a case study of Kenyatta National Hospital – the largest referral hospital in Eastern & Central Africa. A total of one hundred and three respondents, comprising; sixteen doctors, thirty two nurses, twenty nine clinical officers, fourteen laboratory technologists and twelve pharmacists. Data was collected using closed and open ended questionnaires. Findings: Low employee's capacity led to a decrease in provision of service quality public health sector by factor of 0.981 with while Inadequate Technology adoption in provision of health service led to a decrease in provision of service quality by a factor of 0.917. The Ineffective communication channels affected delivery service quality in public health sector by a factor of 0.768 while insufficient financial resources resulted to decrease in provision of health service quality by factor of 0.671. This implied that low employees capacity, low technology adoption, ineffective communication channels and insufficient fund affect delivery of service quality to patients in public health sector affecting health service quality perceptions, patient satisfaction and loyalty. Practical Implications – In the paper the implications for policy include: comprehensive healthcare policy, addressing the plight of the worker, the working environment, the resources to enable the healthcare personnel perform effectively, and emotional intelligence management of the workforce. Originality/value- The paper shows that the respondents in this study were various professionals in the healthcare provision, covering the comprehensive process of healthcare provision from diagnosis to treatment. The approach to study the largest referral hospital in Eastern and Central Africa region and data collected is indicative of special case of Kenyatta National hospital and may be entirely different from other public health institutions within the Eastern and Central Africa region.


Conventional individual head-related transfer function (HRTF) measurements are demanding in terms of measurement time and equipment. For more flexibility, free body movement (FBM) measurement systems provide an easy-to-use way to measure full-spherical HRTF datasets with less effort. However, having no fixed measurement installation implies that the HRTFs are not sampled on a predefined regular grid but rely on the individual movements of the subject. Furthermore, depending on the measurement effort, a rather small number of measurements can be expected, ranging, for example, from 50 to 150 sampling points. Spherical harmonics (SH) interpolation has been extensively studied recently as one method to obtain full-spherical datasets from such sparse measurements, but previous studies primarily focused on regular full-spherical sampling grids. For irregular grids, it remains unclear up to which spatial order meaningful SH coefficients can be calculated and how the resulting interpolation error compares to regular grids. This study investigates SH interpolation of selected irregular grids obtained from HRTF measurements with an FBM system. Intending to derive general constraints for SH interpolation of irregular grids, the study analyzes how the variation of the SH order affects the interpolation results. Moreover, the study demonstrates the importance of Tikhonov regularization for SH interpolation, which is popular for solving ill-posed numerical problems associated with such irregular grids. As a key result, the study shows that the optimal SH order that minimizes the interpolation error depends mainly on the grid and the regularization strength but is almost independent of the selected HRTF set. Based on these results, the study proposes to determine the optimal SH order by minimizing the interpolation error of a reference HRTF set sampled on the sparse and irregular FBM grid. Finally, the study verifies the proposed method for estimating the optimal SH order by comparing interpolation results of irregular and equivalent regular grids, showing that the differences are small when the SH interpolation is optimally parameterized.


In this paper, we describe a technology transfer case study with Siemens Corporate Technology, Systems and Engineering in Munich, Germany in which intelligent decision support was provided for road mapping of the services provided by this unit. The challenge was to provide roadmaps for optimal success in order to achieve maximum market competitiveness and customer satisfaction while simultaneously balancing the resources, business rules, risks, constraints and priorities of different stakeholders and customers around the world. The paper thus describes how ReleasePlanner, a cutting edge technology based on hybrid intelligence developed by the Laboratory for Software Engineering Decision Support at the University of Calgary was used to provide decision support. The technology transfer process and its impact at Siemens are reported.


Sex-ratio meiotic drive is the preferential transmission of the X chromosome by XY males, which occurs in several Drosophila species and results in female-biased progeny. Although the trait has long been known to exist, its molecular basis remains completely unknown. Here we report a fine-mapping experiment designed to characterize the major drive locus on a sex-ratio X chromosome of Drosophila simulans originating from the Seychelles (XSR6). This primary locus was found to contain two interacting elements at least, both of which are required for drive expression. One of them was genetically tracked to a tandem duplication containing six annotated genes (Trf2, CG32712, CG12125, CG1440, CG12123, org-1), and the other to a candidate region located ∼110 kb away and spanning seven annotated genes. RT–PCR showed that all but two of these genes were expressed in the testis of both sex-ratio and standard males. In situ hybridization to polytene chromosomes revealed a complete association of the duplication with the sex-ratio trait in random samples of X chromosomes from Madagascar and Reunion.


Therapeutic vaccines aim to prevent severe complications of a chronic infection by reinforcing host defenses when some immune control, albeit insufficient, can already be demonstrated and when a conventional antimicrobial therapy either is not available or has limited efficacy. We focus on the rationale and challenges behind this still controversial strategy and provide examples from three major chronic infectious diseases— human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, and human papillomavirus—for which the efficacy of therapeutic vaccines is currently being evaluated.


In this paper, we consider the unconstrained optimization problem under the following conditions:
(S1) The objective function is evaluated with a certain bounded error,
(S2) the error is controllable, that is, the objective function can be evaluated to any desired accuracy,
and (S3) more accurate evaluation requires a greater computation time.
This situation arises in many fields such as engineering and financial problems, where objective function values are obtained from considerable numerical calculation or a simulation.
Under (S2) and (S3), it seems reasonable to set the accuracy of the evaluation to be low at points far from a solution, and high at points in the neighborhood of a solution.
In this paper, we propose a derivative-free trust-region algorithm based on this idea.
For this purpose, we consider (i) how to construct a quadratic model function by exploiting pointwise errors and (ii) how to control the accuracy of function evaluations to reduce the total computation time of the algorithm.
For (i), we propose a method based on support vector regression.
For (ii), we present an updating formula of the accuracy of which is related to the trust-region radius.
We present numerical results for several test problems taken from CUTEr and a financial problem of estimating implied volatilities from option prices.


This mini-review touches on some of the most important aspects of the biochemistry of the second row transition metal, micronutrient, molybdenum (VI) (Mo6+). Molybdenum can exist in metal complexes in a variety of oxidation states ranging from the metallic oxidation state of 0 to the most oxidized form of +6. To date, it is believed that molybdenum is taken up by living cells as the molybdate anion [MoO4]2-. There are not many reviews in the literature that cover the current topic. There are a total of about 50 Mo- Containing Enzymes/Proteins. Alongside the detailed literature review, we are also presenting the reactions of aqueous Mo6+ with the organic ligand Malic Acid (MA). It appeared that, the reaction of Mo6+ with MA in aqueous solutions at 25°C in 0.1 M ionic strength (NaNO3) formed a reaction mixture that released a large number of hydrogen ions, or protons (H+); 17 H+ to be exact. This observation is not surprising for such complex behavior of such complex metal ion in aqueous solutions. This mini-review is a contribution to celebrate the 85th birthday of Professor Mostafa El-Sayed; at department of chemistry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.


Abstract 70 Patients with dry central perforations have been studied to assess the hearing loss. The hearing loss is greater at the lower frequencies and increases with the size of the perforation. Malleolar perforations cause more hearing loss than the non-malleolar unless the perforation involves less than 10 per cent of the tympanic membrance surface area. Perforations of the postero-inferior quadrant cause more hearing loss than those in the antero-inferior quadrant. The large effective surgace area of an intact and normally vibrating tympanic membrane plays a major role in the middle ear transformer mechanism. The loss of this surface area by perforation is bound to cause deafness (Mawson, 1962). The degree of hearing loss has been extensively studied in human cadavers (Békésy, 1939) and in cats (Bordley and Hardy, 1937; Payne and Githler, 1951) but not much published work is available on any detailed clinical study in human beings. Most authors have generally stated that 'small perforations' have little effect on hearing, and only low tones are affected (Wever and Lawrence, 1954). In two individuals, Bordley and Hardy (1937) found average losses of 12 dB over frequencies ranging from 256 to 4,096 Hz. 10–30 dB loss is quoted by Simpson et al. (1967), and 20–45 dB loss in the speech frequencies by Thorburn (1971). It has been a general view that the hearing loss increases with the size of the perforation, more so it if is located in the postero-inferior quadrant (Mawson, 1962; Simpson et al., 1967; Thorburn, 1971). In a retrospective study of audiograms in 103 cases, Anthony and Harrison (1972) found that the maximum average loss occurred at 250 Hz., the loss being less in 'small' perforations (less than 2 mm. diameter) than in large ones, less in perforations touching the manubrium than in those away from it, and also less in perforations of the antero-inferior quadrant than in those in the postero-inferior quadrant.